Radio Plays Read online

PART) No, I don’t.

  RUBIN: Believes what?

  OLD WOMAN: A child knows in its blood. Why don’t you know?

  RUBIN: (PAUSE) Voodoo? My father... my family didn’t allow it.

  OLD WOMAN: (PREOCCUPIED) She’s stubborn, your woman, but she’s afraid. She made you come on the boat?

  RUBIN: No. It was my fault, because of voting. I was angry. Angry I didn’t fight. In hiding, I’m worthless to my people. I’m a coward but must do something. So I voted no. Once, I dare. One time I wasn’t a coward. Now...we’re here.

  OLD WOMAN: No coward. Here, we‘re close to water. Only a little skin between. Spirits speak, easy. Easy come through water from creation.

  SOUND: HEAVY MOVEMENT

  OLD WOMAN: Sun blot, blot sun, who makes the shadow?

  SAILOR: (ABOVE; ROUGH, BUT SODDEN, DULL) Any still, alive down there?

  OLD WOMAN: (EAGER) Ah. The carrier death, he comes.

  SOUND: SAILOR GRUNTING, RUNMAGING, SLAPPING PEOPLE AWAKE, ROLLING OVER BODIES. CHORUS, MUMBLING AND GROANS. BACKGROUND, CHORAL CHORDS, MOVING

  RUBIN: Sailor? You sure that man is dead?

  SAILOR: Uugh.

  SOUND: DRAGGING BODY TO LADDER

  OLD WOMAN: (ACCOSTING SAILOR) How far have we come?

  RUBIN: Gramma, let him take the corpse. Come back.

  SAILOR: (HOISTING THE BODY, EXHAUSTED) Aaaaagh.

  OLD WOMAN: (GRABBING HOLD OF SAILOR) How far?

  SAILOR: (PULLING AWAY) Let go!

  OLD WOMAN: So climb, climb out! We skim fast now, uh? No weight left.

  RUBIN: Gramma, still yourself!

  SOUND: SAILOR CLIMBING UP AND THROUGH HATCH

  OLD WOMAN: (CROWS AFTER THE SAILOR) Less than thirty mile, you said yesterday. We’re close now, less than thirty!

  RUBIN: The boat can’t move without wind. The sea is a dead pond. We sit rotting in the sun.

  OLD WOMAN: No wind? We need wind.

  RUBIN: (PAUSE) Are you a believer?

  SIRI: No.

  OLD WOMAN: Yes, believe now. You help. Take coins in cloth.

  SIRI: Don’t, Rubin.

  RUBIN: Yes, I want to.

  SOUND: THROWING COINS INTO THE CLOTH, ONE BY ONE

  RUBIN: Remember when my father died?

  SIRI: Poisoned. He was poisoned.

  RUBIN: He spoke to me alone.

  SIRI: They chased him.

  RUBIN: He had something to tell me...

  SIRI: All your family hate Voodoo, Rubin. It keeps us in the jungle. We’re going to a new world, Rubin. Where miracles come from men.

  RUBIN: Maybe we won’t get there, Siri. What do I do with the coins, Gramma?

  OLD WOMAN: Put them in cloth, loose. Shake it, make rattle.

  SOUND: RUBIN SHAKES COINS. OLD WOMAN BEGINS INTONING, RHYTHMICALLY, AND STAMPING A DANCE. DRUMMING BEGINS ON WOOD OF BOAT. CHORUS AMPLIFIES THE CHANT. THE DRUMMING SWELLS, ACCELERATES

  SIRI: (GRABBING HIM) Rubin, don’t do this. You don’t believe...

  RUBIN: That’s the dance, Siri.

  SIRI: Don’t watch!

  RUBIN: It’s so wild. She’s going to fall...

  SIRI: (LEAPING UP, CATCHING OLD WOMAN) Aaahah!

  SOUND: DRUMMING, FASTER, NOW CHANGES RHYTHM. IT IS SYNCOPATED

  RUBIN: (SURPRISED) You caught her.

  SIRI: (URGING GENTLY) There, now. Stand up, Gramma.

  OLD WOMAN: (HUGE SOUND) Aaahoooh!

  RUBIN: What’s happening?!

  SIRI: Nothing. Don’t look.

  OLD WOMAN: (DEEP VOICE) Quiet!

  RUBIN: That voice. Listen.

  OLD WOMAN: (AS CHRISTOPHE) Silence! (PAUSE) Little man! Get me my telescope.

  RUBIN: (COWED) Telescope?

  SIRI: It’s not one of the gods. Telescope... It’s Christophe. King Henry. Give him this stick. Bow when you do it.

  RUBIN: Him?

  OLD WOMAN: (CHRISTOPHE) Give ‘me my telescope! Clean the lens first.

  RUBIN: Of course.

  SIRI: Hand it to him. And bow.

  OLD WOMAN: (CHRISTOPHE) Thank you, little man. Now let’s see... (“LOOKING”) No clouds. No wind. A bad spot. Yes, children?

  RUBIN: (UNCERTAINLY) You are...King Henry?

  OLD WOMAN: (CHRISTOPHE) And you are...a slave?

  RUBIN: I… (BEAT) There are no slaves in King Henry’s kingdom.

  OLD WOMAN: (CHRISTOPHE) (Hearty laugh, then:) Some think there are.

  RUBIN: Because...you are severe, King Henry. You work your people hard, you drive them.

  OLD WOMAN: (CHRISTOPHE) I drive them to their own honor, Monsieur. They think freedom means nothing but ease. I did not drive out the white man to rule a degenerate kingdom!

  RUBIN: Yes, Monsieur, but...

  OLD WOMAN: (CHRISTOPHE) I will work them and drive them to greatness. Only then can they glare level-eyed at the white. The world is watching, little man. To see what the black man will do.

  RUBIN: He will try to be white. He will murder his own. Scrape them to dust.

  OLD WOMAN: (CHRISTOPHE) No! That must end. Be wise, little man. The murders must end. Do not despair. Lead wisely. You know how. (SPEECH PEAKS, THEN, A DYING FALL) Aaaaaa.

  RUBIN: (JUMPING, STARTLED) Be careful ...what? She fainted!

  SOUND: WIND. BOAT BEGINNING TO MOVE, LURCHES, CREAKS

  RUBIN: She lifted her arm, then fell. What happened?

  SIRI: Ahhhh...we’re moving.

  RUBIN: Is she all right?

  SIRI: He’s gone. Christophe left.

  RUBIN: (RELAXING) I had to do it, Siri. My father...

  SIRI: He hated Voodoo, Rubin.

  RUBIN: Before he died, he frightened me.

  SIRI: (REALIZING) We’re moving. There must be wind!

  RUBIN: My father told me, I must serve the spirits. As he did, in secret. He alone, protected my whole family. And now it’s me. I have to...

  SIRI: No! He hated Voodoo, he said...

  RUBIN: When he died, he told me: Love, love deep, to serve is good.

  SIRI: No! (THEN, FAINTLY) The boat sways...we’re moving.

  OLD WOMAN: (WEAKLY) It goes?

  SIRI: She’s back. (TO OLD WOMAN) It goes. We’re moving.

  MUSIC: A TRANSISTOR PLAYS, ISLAND MUSIC, SOFT

  RUBIN: What did it mean, Gramma? What did you do.

  SIRI: She doesn’t know.

  RUBIN: Doesn’t know?

  SIRI: No. She won’t remember.

  RUBIN: But she did it.

  SIRI: The spirit took her body. Leave it now.

  RUBIN: You said it wasn’t a god.

  SIRI: No! It was one of the dead. Leave me alone!

  OLD WOMAN: Who came?

  RUBIN: Henry Christophe. What did it mean, Gramma?

  OLD WOMAN: (AMUSED) You must think. Speak with your heart. Then you know.

  RUBIN: But tell me...

  OLD WOMAN: I know nothing. He came for you.

  RUBIN: My poor father. He was so alone.

  OLD WOMAN: With his secret, yes. He hurt with secret. But not alone. The lonely are those cut off. Your father served. He was connected to all life, all death, all good in the world...above, beneath. He knew the way, the way to seeing, to knowing, to peace.

  RUBIN: The way to peace.

  OLD WOMAN: Before, I was afraid. I was sick to death. My power weak, people poor, no young to take my place. But now, on the water... On water I feel spirits flow. I am closer creation. (PAUSE) What did Christophe say?

  RUBIN: He said I know how to lead.

  OLD WOMAN: Ahh.

  RUBIN: Our people always know how to lead, have the idea to lead, many leaders, many strong.

  SIRI: (BITTERLY, FROM SIDE) Id
ea to lead, yes. And the idea to not be led. Together, they make blood, always blood. He leads. Then what? A strong man comes. Then, the best way is exile. If not exile, then for sure, you get more blood.

  OLD WOMAN: They tie you back to back. Sail you out. Out on water. Bayonet your belly. Push you in. Sharks quick. Water warm.

  RUBIN: Christophe gave the answer: no murder, no more.

  SIRI: Christophe was a blood-soaked tyrant.

  SOUND: WIND IS STRONGER

  MUSIC: ISLAND MUSIC SWELLS

  SOUND: CRACKLE OF STATIC

  MUSIC: NEW MUSIC – IT IS ACID ROCK. IT IS A MIAMI STATION

  OLD WOMAN: Too much wind. Danger.

  SIRI: Listen!

  OLD WOMAN: Too strong.

  SIRI: Hear it? Listen! That’s America coming. I know that’s America. We’re close now, for sure. Listen!

  OLD WOMAN: Wind is too strong.

  SIRI: We’re going to get there, baby child. It’s America, Rubin.

  RUBIN: It could be.

  SIRI: It is, it is. I know it. It’s paradise.

  RUBIN: Our island was paradise.

  SIRI: No none. Our paradise was seventeen pieces of tin in places, cardboard and rag, the rest. The ditch between huts carries water, carries everything. The baby could die just breathing that sewer.

  RUBIN: Siri, don’t...

  SIRI: I’ll tell you paradise. We’re on the way. We’ll get there, you’ll see.

  RUBIN: It’s cold there, in winter.

  (PULLING HERSELF UP, SIRI ‘S VOLUME WILL BUILD INTO A ROUSING HYMN)

  SIRI: Some places, yes. It’s big as the world. But different. In America no one is poor. They all have houses, rooms and rooms. Rooms warm when it’s cold, cool when it’s hot. And rooms have windows. Windows and windows. So cities glitter, diamonds in sunlight. And they’re all soooo rich. They have cars and clothes and whatever they want. Just to be happy. And they all have jobs. Aaaand there is so much food. Piles and piles. So much...when their president hears of one hungry, just one...he won’t sit to eat, will not take a bite, until that hungry person is fed.

  SOUND: VIOLENT JERK. BOXES SLIDE, CRASHES

  RUBIN: What’s that?

  SIRI: What.

  RUBIN: Something happened.

  SOUND: ANOTHER JERK. MORE CRASHING. ROCKING (SLIDING) INCREASES

  SIRI: What is it?

  (THE OLD WOMAN IS MUTTERING)

  SIRI: Nothing can happen now. It can’t.

  RUBIN: I’m going up to see.

  SIRI: On deck? I want to come.

  RUBIN: No Stay here.

  SIRI: Then look with my eyes.

  OLD WOMAN: He’s going up?

  SIRI: Be careful.

  SOUND: STEPS OF RUBIN ASCENDING LADDER

  SIRI: It’s coming, my baby. Wetre almost there.

  SOUND: WIND, CRASHING ON DECK

  OLD WOMAN: (BARELY AUDIBLE) What do they speak there?

  SIRI: What?

  OLD WOMAN: What are they speaking there? The French?

  SIRI: In America? The English.

  OLD WOMAN: English. (BEAT) You speak that?

  SIRI: No. Why do we rock again?

  OLD WOMAN: Then how can you talk? What job can you do?

  SIRI: I can learn. I learn anything. Rubin say my mind is faster than lizards up the wall.

  OLD WOMAN: So fast...and so still?

  SIRI: Yes. Still like lizard. But waiting. He knows. His daddy made the President angry. He hid in nountains, nine years. Rubin came to hide too. He taught sometimes at my village, my school. He saw my mind. Rubin, he knows the English. He taught me his favorite English. It sings paradise. (SHE SPEAKS WORDS STRANGE TO HER) “Be not afeard; the isle is full, of noises....”

  OLD WOMAN: You sing clear. The power is in you.

  SIRI: No.

  OLD WOMAN: Power isn’t dead because you deny it.

  SIRI: Go away from me.

  OLD WOMAN: Why be afraid?

  SIRI: I’m not afraid.

  OLD WOMAN: You know much.

  SIRI: I thank you for this, old woman. I thank you for bringing King Henry to my Rubin. You helped him see his strength.

  OLD WOMAN: But where is your strength? You’re clouded, girl.

  SIRI: I am at peace.

  OLD WOMAN: Maybe you served? You were chosen?

  SIRI: No!

  OLD WOMAN: What good is a lie? Your spirit will be angry.

  SIRI: No!!

  OLD WOMAN: (COMMANDING) Your spirit’s name. Your spir-iiit....

  (THE OLD WOMAN DRAWS OUT THE WORD ON A TONE. SIRI FINALLY CRIES)

  SIRI: Siiiri, Siri, Sirene!

  OLD WOMAN: (QUIETLY) Sirene... the mermaid.

  SIRI: Don’t speak it. Yes, I’m chosen. I... (A WHISPER) I have sight.

  OLD WOMAN: Sight.

  SIRI: Sometimes.

  OLD WOMAN: You special child. Holy.

  SIRI: No. I refuse. I don’t want it. Don’t want to see pain. Like Rubin. He sees in the streets pain, I, in the mind. People ask me the future. I see pain for them. No. No more.

  SOUND: RUBIN COMING THROUGH THE HATCH, AND STEPS DOWN LADDER

  SIRI: Rubin! What did you see? Did you see America? I want to look.

  RUBIN: Night is coming too early. The sky’s strange.

  SIRI: Did you see it?!

  RUBIN: (BEAT) The sailor’s coming. The sails are down.

  SIRI: Down!

  SOUND: SAILOR STEPS FAST DOWN LADDER

  (SAILOR IN BAD SHAPE, BREATHING HARD)

  SAILOR: We’ve struck sail. Coast guard is out with flood lights. Can’t risk the sail, being seen.

  SIRI: We’re close! We’ve got to keep sailing.

  SAILOR: If we get caught, you’ll wish we were back in the middle of the sea.

  SIRI: Why? What will. they do?

  SAILOR: Lock you in a chain-mail cage, fast as your eye blinks.

  SIRI: A cage? A cage? For what? What reason?

  SAILOR: Because you try to come in their country.

  SIRI: Their foot... Are they white?

  SAILOR: Not all.

  SIRI: Shiny shoe.

  SAILOR: No noise. Keep low.

  SOUND: SAILOR STEPS UP THE LADDER

  RUBIN: What about the storm? Don’t we have to ride with the sails up?

  SAILOR: Sail. is my business. You got storm, and you got coast guard. One you count on, the other not. If I’ve got to choose, I choose the storm, cause I don’t know yet what he do to me. Coast guard, I know what he do to me. With him I lose everything.

  SOUND: SILENCE AS THE SAILOR STEPS UP AND OUT

  OLD WOMAN: No sails.

  SIRI: (PAUSE) You said the sky looked strange. How?

  RUBIN: Red.

  SIRI: Red. Like sunset?

  RUBIN: No, all red.

  SIRI: (MOVED, BUT BARELY WHISPERS) Red.

  OLD WOMAN: You see something.

  SIRI: (SHARPLY) No!

  RUBIN: Little Siri. She wants to see everything. The whole world disappears into her eyes. World above, world below. She’s the one who dives to find tiny scarlet darting, brilliant blue and silver, languid golden green, crab under the bottom sand. She dives, then shoots up laughing.

  OLD WOMAN: She swim, your Siri?

  SIRI: “Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises...” Rubin...tell me the paradise.

  RUBIN: The English?

  SIRI: Yes, again please.

  RUBIN: You tell it. Lazy Siri.

  SIRI: “The clouds methought would open and show riches...ready to drop upon me...

  RUBIN: (GENTLY) “...that when I waked...

  SIRI: “I cried to dream again.” To dream again. Hold me, Rubin.

  SOUND: CRASH
OF LIGHTNING STRIKES. SPLASHES. VIOLENT STORM. SAILOR DESCENDS